We have explained in our article
Biblical Formatting located on the world wide web at
http://www.Rashiyomi.com/biblicalformatting.pdf,
that the Biblical Author indicated bullets
by using repeating keywords.
That is, if a modern
author wanted to get a point across using bullets -
a list of similar but contrastive items -
then the Biblical
Author would use repeating keywords.
Today's verse illustrates this principle.
Bullets whether indicated through modern notation or
through the Biblical method of repeating keywords always indicate
contrastive emphasis - that is, each bullet is presumed
to be a distinct item contrasted to the other items on the list. Very often
the bullets are also used to indicate that the entire list is exhaustive
of some spectrum.
Verse(s)
Lv25-06d
discussing
the land sabbatical
states
And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food
- for you
- for your male slave
- for your female slave
- for your worker [even non-jewish]
- for your national residents living with you [even non-jewish]
- for your animal
- And for wild beasts in your land.
The repeated underlined phrase
for
creates a bullet effect. The bullet effect in turn
creates an emphasis on the distinctness of all enumerated items.
Rashi interprets the distinctness as follows
Workers / residents include non-jewish workers residents.
We have embedded this Rashi comment in the above translation. It is easy to see how Rashi
inferred this emphasis The initial bullets include you and your slaves. Consequently subsequent bullets
must include non-Jews. Here the bullet structure with its implied emphasis on distinctness
of bullets is the driving force behind Rashi.
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